Brandon Marshall leaves Bears for ‘personal reasons’

Chicago Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall was given an excused four-day absence from the team, head coach Marc Trestman said after practice.

“This was a planned-out miss today for personal reasons,” Trestman said, via the Chicago Tribune. “I let him go for personal reasons. But something that has been part of the offseason plan since started training camp.”

Trestman did not say if Marshall’s absence was due to his lingering hip injury, which he complained about Tuesday.

“I’d rather just leave it to personal reasons out of respect to Brandon,” Trestman said. “But it’s all good. As I have said, when I let guys go for personal reasons, it’s all good. It’s not reflective of anything other than I gave him time off. He will be back on Sunday.”

“It’s still early,” Marshall said, via the team’s website. “I’m still trying to figure out my role and my place in this offense, trying to get healthy and we’ll see where it takes us. It’s one of those things where I’m just trying to get healthy for Week 1. You’ve got to have a game plan coming off surgery, a third hip surgery. I’m not where I want to be right now. It’s a little frustrating. But we’ll see.”

The eight-year veteran has played in the last two preseason games against the Chargers and Raiders after sitting out the opener versus the Panthers.

“I think it’s more of a conditioning [issue],” Marshall said. “It’s one of those things where you may be rushed a little bit and some people might think I need to be farther on than where I am. So it’s a little frustrating not being where I want to be right now and maybe being pushed a little bit. So we’ll see.

“Mentally as far as understanding plays, I know where I’m supposed to be. I know where I’m supposed to line up. Now it’s just getting a feel for it and having more experience in the offense. I think it’s a great offense; great coaches, great players. We have all the pieces.”

“Conditioning-wise he’s a little behind,” Cutler said. “He knows where to be. It’s just a matter of him getting out there and pushing his hip through things when it gets tight a little bit. I think once we start getting into a routine in game week and we shorten some of these reps, we’ll really figure out exactly what routes we want him on and where we want him on the field. Hopefully things will sharpen up for his hip for him and he’ll be able to make it go.”